When We Disagree

What happens when people with deeply opposing views actually listen to each other? Doug Sprei of the College Debates and Discourse Alliance shares stories from more than 300 campus debates designed to help students disagree without dehumanizing one another. In one unforgettable moment, two students with radically different perspectives speak back-to-back, and the entire room shifts from tension to genuine listening. The episode explores why students are hungry for spaces where they can speak openly, challenge ideas, and be heard with respect. It’s a conversation about how debate—done well—can restore curiosity, courage, and humanity to public disagreement.

Re-release from January 2025. When We Disagree is on spring break! 

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Veteran lobbyist and community mediator Michael Covington shares lessons from a career spent navigating conflict in South Carolina politics and public life. From tense racial disputes over highway construction to behind-the-scenes statehouse negotiations, he explains why confronting problems directly, as well as listening carefully, can unlock progress. Covington argues that persuasion starts with understanding what people already believe and building from there. Along the way, he reflects on bias, the power of simple communication, and the surprising role of the scientific method in public reasoning. It’s a conversation about patience, persuasion, and why engaging the people you disagree with still matters.

Re-release from 2025. When We Disagree is on spring break! 

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What happens when a college dedicated to civil dialogue goes on Tucker Carlson Tonight? In this episode, Phelosha Collaros of St. John's College, famous for its "Great Books" program, recounts the social media firestorm that erupted after her president appeared on Tucker Carlson. Outrage came from both the left and the right. The backlash forced a hard question: Is conversation complicity, or is it the bare minimum for democracy? Drawing on her family’s history of partisan violence in Colombia and her work with DepolarWise, Collaros reflects on tribalism, human dignity, and the daily discipline of depolarization. It’s a candid look at what ideological diversity really means. 

Originally aired on 3/19/25. When We Disagree returns from spring break soon! 

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After challenging a dominant academic framework about privilege, a graduate student received the worst grade of his life. Curious, he reran the experiment — submitting basically the same paper with the opposite conclusion — and saw it praised. That moment set Nafees Alam on a mission to champion viewpoint diversity, constructive disagreement, and open inquiry in higher education. In this episode, he explains why classrooms should be places of point-counterpoint education, not indoctrination, why real intellectual strength means being able to argue the other side without losing yourself. From culture wars to tenure reform, it’s a conversation about playing the academic game and changing it. 

Episode originally aired 1/8/25. When We Disagree will return from spring break soon!  

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Angel Grant, co-founder of Death Over Dinner and Drugs Over Dinner, opens up about a rare moment when she broke her own conflict guidelines. A longtime meditation teacher and trauma practitioner influenced by Gabor Maté, Angel describes what it means to be “emotionally drunk," reacting from undigested pain rather than present reality. She explores how old reservoirs of fear, anger, and humiliation hijack our relationships, and why real freedom means expanding our capacity to sit with the sensation before we lash out. In a candid story about defending a loved one during a divorce, Angel wrestles with integrity, self-righteousness, and the seductive power of being the “truth teller.” It’s a vulnerable, rich conversation about body wisdom, detachment, and how to stop repeating the same fight over and over again.

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After a magical day of food, wine, and instant connection with a new friend, Tina Singleton made one political comment that shattered it all. In this candid conversation, the founder of Transformation Table reflects on how a single rant cost her a budding friendship and what it taught her about ego, humility, and the fragility of connection. Inspired by a call from Bernice King after the tragedy at Mother Emanuel AME Church, Tina has spent years bringing strangers together over meals to practice curiosity across difference. This episode is a powerful reminder that building common ground is hard and that sometimes the hardest part is practicing what you preach.

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Trey Gowdy, former prosecutor and congressman and current author and host of Sunday Night in America on Fox News, reflects on why the ouster of his friend former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy in 2023 still bothers him and what it reveals about modern politics. McCarthy was the first Speaker to be removed by a "motion to vacate" in US history. Gowdy argues that a small faction of attention-seekers undermined majority rule and rewarded disloyalty over leadership. Gowdy traces how narrow margins and media incentives paved the way for McCarthy’s fall and the rise of his successor, the current Speaker Mike Johnson. Along the way, he contrasts today’s political chaos with the rule-bound fairness of the courtroom. The episode ultimately asks whether Americans will keep rewarding outrage or start incentivizing integrity.

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Philosopher and interfaith scholar at the University of Denver, Sarah Pessin, has written quite a bit about common ground, shared humanity, and what she calls "hard hope." And, she keeps returning to a poignant yet awkward moment she had on a bus as she thinks about the possibilities of connection in a polarized world. The bus driver that day gave an unexpected sermon to his captive audience of passengers. moment from her graduate days at , when her bus driver unexpectedly preached to a silent, captive audience. She reflects on how that experience shaped her thinking about sharing one's faith, public space, attention, and respectful disagreement. Our conversation covers the ethics of listening in a divided culture. Together, when wrestle with when attention builds understanding and when it crosses a boundary. The episode reveals how discomfort, humility, and empathy can open the door to deeper civic and interfaith connection.

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Fairmont State University President Mike Davis joins When We Disagree to tell a story about being wrong and how it changed him. After discouraging a young colleague from pursuing her dream of becoming a pilot, he realized he was giving advice she never asked for and learned the power of listening instead. The experience reshaped how he mentors students and leads a college campus, shifting his focus from directing people’s paths to helping them discover their own. This conversation shows why admitting mistakes is essential to leadership, innovation, and trust. It’s a candid and fun conversation about humility, growth, and learning to let go of the need to be right in every interaction. 

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Graham Bullock, political scientist and director of the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative at Davidson College, joins When We Disagree to explain how meaningful dialogue can break free from today’s “polarization vortex.” He shares how structured, intergenerational conversations about complicated topics can turn simple political binaries into rich, multi-perspective debates. Graham introduces “deliberative dispositions” like humility, courage, empathy, and curiosity as the foundation of healthy disagreement. He also explores when we need dialogue, when we need debate, and how both lead to wiser collective decisions. Ultimately, he argues that practicing disagreement is like going to the civic gym, and it’s essential for a hopeful democratic future.

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